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Monday, 21 April 2014

Mount Sinai monks threatened with deportation

An Egyptian ex-army general has called for a monastery in Sinai to be destroyed and the monks who live there to be deported—because he says they are a threat to national security.

According to Egyptian news source Ahram, Ahmed Ragai Attiya has filed suit to demolish Saint Catherine’s with the city of Ismailiya’s administrative court. Although the monastery was founded in the sixth-century and was made a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2002, Attiya says that most of the buildings that comprise the complex were built in 2006 and so cannot be classed as historic, which would protect them from destruction. Click here to read more...

About Garry

I am an Egyptologist, Lecturer and Author, writing on ancient history, travel and heritage.

I am the author of The Pharaoh: Life at Court and on Campaign, The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends, and War and Trade with the Pharaohs: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Egypt's Foreign Relations.

I have taught Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, the University of Liverpool, the Egypt Exploration Society, and as a part-time tutor for Oxford University's Department for Continuing Education. As an archaeologist, I've worked for fieldwork projects in Egypt, Turkey, and the UK.

My work has appeared in The Independent, The Art Newspaper, Apollo Magazine, History Today, Timeless Travels, Current World Archaeology, Science Magazine, B.Inspired (Brussels Airline Magazine), and Showbiz Culture (SC Exhibitions Magazine), among others.